LONDON (AlertNet)
- Aid agencies are scrambling to avert a major famine in Niger after months of delays from the international community. Following are key facts about a crisis that U.N. relief coordinator Jan Egeland has described as 'one of the most extreme examples of a neglected emergency'.
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Niger is facing one of the worst hunger crises in its history following severe drought and the country's worst locust invasion in 15 years, says the World Food Programme.
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The WFP says 3.6 million of Niger's 11.5 million people face food shortages, while 2.5 million are on the brink of starvation.
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Some families are trying to survive by eating leaves and wild roots.
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The most vulnerable are young children, with 800,000 'at risk', according to WFP. M'decins Sans Fronti'res (MSF) reports that 10-15 are dying every week.
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Niger experiences a lean season from June to October every year. The four-month period of food shortages also coincides with a rise in the levels of disease ' especially diarrhoea and malaria - during the rainy season.
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The UN's initial response to the food crisis has been severely hampered by late funding and difficulties buying food within the region. It first alerted the international community to Niger's food shortages in November 2004. By July 2005 its $30.7 million appeal had still not been fully funded.
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Some 82 percent of Niger's population relies on subsistence farming and cattle rearing, while only 15 percent of the land is suitable for arable farming. There is little irrigation, leaving most farmers at the mercy of the rains.
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